There was a heaviness in the air of Dragon Tower that day. Looming between the dark oak walls like some kind of fog. The silence felt strange. I needed to ask questions, get answers to all the unknowns that had been floating in my head while I was away.

But I was being cowardly. I knew this place so well, yet I wanted to stall for a little bit of time. I didn't want to risk seeing this cat's corpse, not yet. I wanted to hold on to the hope of it being alive just a little bit longer.

I stepped slowly into the hallway to the left side, letting my fingers trail along the wall where Red's blood once was. I gently pushed open the doors of the workroom.

Just as empty and quiet. No bits of paper being folded and the books were all neat on the shelves. I had a stray thought of going over and pulling one forward to let myself pretend that the tower was being lived in.

I touched the shelf where the book on self-healing rested. Right where Red had pulled it off the shelf despite not being in this time at all.

I pulled the book out just a bit. Still firm on the shelf, barely more than an inch forward. I patted the wood twice and turned to leave. This time tomorrow the others would be here and I would be forced out of my own head.

Not even a creak from the wood as I stepped back into the hallway. My steps were soft, but my boots were loud. I stepped down into the main area and towards the fireplace.

I pushed the brick with a barely there dragon engraved on the side to light the fireplace. I was grateful it was an enchantment and not a rune. I could experiment later with the attic if I wanted to risk poking that bear.

From there was only one place I could go.

I looked up at the glass and found myself looking into the eyes of the massive dragon statue outside.

"Hello," I greeted.

There was a rumble from the walls. Somewhere between a greeting a purr.

"Did you miss me?"

A single shake. A yes. Oh good, he remembers.

I sat down in my usual spot. On the left side of the window with my back against the sill. One leg straight and one bent propping up my right arm. The statue was peering up into the window, tips of claws resting just underneath the glass.

I supposed that was enough stalling.

"Were you a person once?" I asked him. I wasn't looking that statue in the eyes.

A single shake of the floor next to me.

"It occurred me while I was gone. My mother was talking about Malcarg and Jantres. Then I got the idea of who you might have been once. Is that you, Malcarg the Tyrant?"

A moment passed, I held my breath. Then the wood next to me shook once.

That was probably the easier question I had to ask. The next one was what filled me with dread.

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"Do you want us to use your name?"

Two shakes that time.

Okay. So full name was out, "What about M?" I asked. Thinking back to watching Red hang up on me.

A single shake.

Hmm. Was that why Red called him that? "If that's what you're comfortable with, M."

More a gentle rumble this time. Something soothing sounding. It helped me steel myself and my resolve. It was time to see for sure if the cat was dead or alive. "Is Death's Echo still in the school?"

My head nearly split itself open from the suddenness of the headache. The pain was so distracting I almost didn't hear the familiar deep rumbling voice in my head.

It never left the school, hatchling.

Dead it was then. Just like my single hope of perhaps avoiding trouble for me and my friends. The headache stopped just as suddenly as it had started.

So. It was possible to just brute force telepathy through the curse. At the cost of me in serious pain. There was a pulse in my wrist when it passed the ice cold of the curse had spread a little bit up my arm before re-stabilizing.

Death's Echo never left the school. It was still here. The best chance to smuggle it out and it wasn't taken. That could only really mean that the knife was where the thief wanted it to be. They wanted to use it here. On a student or professor? And then what?

What was the plan here?

"I assume you don't know who has it," I said as I tried to think about what I was going to tell the others. Should I wait? Was is responsible to not say it right away? Would waiting the twenty-four hours to say it in person be better?

I was the worst possible person to be making this decision.

"Do you think I should tell the adults?"

Two shakes. A no.

"We don't have any evidence beyond your word, and no one besides us will believe it. No offense."

Another simple soothing rumble.

"No hard evidence and our enemy could be anyone. If my mother finds out I might never step foot in here again. No access to you and the others would lose their one hope of any kind of forewarning. And Vivian will tell her for sure."

A terrible idea all around. I couldn't leave the others in the lurch like that. And the action wouldn't even be functional. It wasn't like I could make some noble sacrifice and protect my friends. It wouldn't help.

"So we don't tell anyone. We keep this to ourselves unless we find real proof. And I have no idea how we're going to get it. I doubt we even can, not until they do something other than just 'have a knife'."

Were we safe? Was there something we could do about any of this?

I took a deep breath. "Okay. So we keep our ears clean and eyes open. And try to avoid any more attention. We'll figure something out. We have to."

If Red had any chance of not being killed by the Wraith we would have to. If she really was one of us that we just haven't met yet, I wanted to try and save her.

"Do you think I'm being ridiculous? Not getting help when I know I'm out of my depth?"

The floor shook twice.

I huffed. I thought I was being ridiculous, but the ghost wasn't making fun of me at least.

I stood up and stretched, letting out my breath slowly and nodded. "I'm going to get through this. We all are. I'm not going to sit back and wait for something terrible to happen."

"You sound so confident," Red's voice snapped my attention to the middle of the room. She was standing in front of the fireplace. Staring into the brick and her back to me. The hood was up and her hands were at her sides, shaking and clenched so tight I was worried she was going to break something.

"Red?" I asked.

"Promise me," Red said without even greeting. "Promise me that whatever happens, you don't give up and you don't regret it."

"Regret what?"

"Everything. Coming here, joining Dragon Tower, meeting our friends."

"Why would I regret that?"

"Trust me. It'll be hard not to sometimes."

She was still shaking. Her whole body trembled.

"What's wrong?"

The trembling stopped. She let out a slow breath and turned around while pulling down her hood. I gasped but in a blink she was gone before I could see her face.

I reached out my hand in an aborted motion, not that it could do anything. I couldn't do anything right now. But maybe someday. Maybe soon.

Red was counting on me, wasn't she? Maybe that's why our timelines seemed connected for some reason.

"I promise," I said even though she couldn't hear me anymore. Maybe M would show her that I did what she'd asked. "No regrets. Only going forward."

Whatever was waiting for me, for all us, I would have to face it head-on.

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